Industrial apparatus and method



y 1957 H. w. BALLARD 2,797,711

INDUSTRIAL APPARATUS AND METHOD Filed July 16, 1956 FIGI.

INVENTORZ United States INDUSTRIAL APPARATUS AND METHOD Application July16, 1956, Serial'No. 598,164

5 Claims. (Cl. 139-36) This invention relates to the manufacture ofwoven textile. fabrics, more particularly to an, apparatus and methodfor providing color matching chain warps in a woven floor covering.

With the popular demand for sculptured floor coverings in which the facepile yarn has some areas of relatively low pile, the problem ofpreventing grinning has become quite serious. The term grinning refersto the visibility or lack of coverage of the backing fabric which iscomprised of the filling shots and the chain and stufier warps. Thisproblem becomes especially critical in low end fabrics where the pricerange does not permit the face pile to be employed in sufiicientquantity to completely cover the woven backing material.

The use of colored wefts for the filling has been previously employed.Because the filling in the case of either a shuttle loom or a needleinsertion loom is frequently replenished, it is entirely feasible tosupply the filling material to match the face yarn as may be required.In the case of the chain warps, however, this presents an entirelydifferent problem because the chain or binder warps are customarily fedfrom a beam. It is not feasible to wind a full beam with one color yarnsince the beam may not be exhausted before or at the same time that adifferent design or color in the face yarns is to be woven in the loom.It is also impractical to maintain a supply of beams of differentlycolored yarns in storage for substitution in the loom every time thecolor of the face yarn is changed. Beams used on 12 ft. or 15 ft. loomsare of substantial size and cannot economically be changed or stored inaccordance with the color changes which are otherwise made in the loom.For these reasons all chain warps currently used in the weaving ofcarpets are of a neutral or slate color. In this way it is the usualpractice to run the chain warp beam through the loom until it needsreplenishing regardless of the color or pattern of the pile yarn. Insome cases the slate blends sufliciently well with the color of the pileyarn so that if visible in certain areas, it is either unobjectionableor unnoticeable. In other circumstances, however, the chain warps are ofsuch a contrasting color that their presence is quite noticeable and,therefore, objectionable. The saleability of such fabrics is therebyadversely affected and it can be remedied only by increasing the pileheight or coverage in the affected areas.

The present invention overcomes the above disadvantages by providingmeans secured to the loom structure between the chain warp beam and theshed for dyeing the chain warps whatever color may be desirable to blendwith the face warps and, therefore, render the chains inconspicuous.

A further object of the invention is to provide a method for weaving apile fabric in which the chain warps are dyed as they are fed from thebeam to the loom.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a dye bath in acarpet loom which permits the dye liquor to be changed frequently inaccordance with the color of 2,797,711 Patented July 2, 1957 the facepile without the necessity of changing the chain warp beam as a unit.

A. still further object of the invention is to provide in a carpet loommeans for dyeing the chain warps between the beam and the shed as wellas means for drying the warps.

Further objects will be apparent from the drawings and claims in whichFig. 1 is a schematic view showing certain essential elements of a loomin which the apparatus of the present invention is incorporated;

Fig. 2 is an enlarged sectional detail showing. the dyeing and drying,apparatus; of Fig. 1.

The. invention comprises essentially the provision of dye rolls' locatedbetween the chain warp beam and the shed of the loom. In this, mechanismthe chain warps. are dyed-or treated ina manner or; in such away thatthey will harmonize with the face warp. Means for setting or drying thedye or other liquid may be incorporated with the applicator.

Referring now more particularly to the drawings, Fig. 1 is a schematicshowing of a conventional velvet loom in which the face pile yarn F isfed from a creel, not shown, through guides 5, a comb 6, draw-off rolls7, and compensator 8 t0 the heddles 9a and 9b of the harness indicatedgenerally at 9. The usual lease rods 10 are also included. A reel 11,mounted on lay 12, is oscillated in the usual manner by means of swords13 and crank 14. The woven fabric G is drawn over a breast plate 15 andby means of pin roll 16 from whence it passes over guide rolls 17, 17.The stuffer warps are fed from a beam 20 provided with a conventionallet-01f mechanism 21 through jumbo 22 and over guides 23, 23 to theharness 90. Lease rods 10' are also shown for the stufier warps. Thechain warps are stored on the chain warp beam 25 which is likewiseprovided with a let-off mechanism 26 and the chain warps are fed througha tension controlling jumbo 27 past least rods 10" into the housing 30of a dye applicator which is provided with a first guide roll 31 (Fig.2) from which the chain warps pass downwardly through the dye bath 32and around a roller or glass rod 33 which is submerged in the bath. Fromthence the chain ends are carried through a pair of squeeze rolls 34 and35 the former of which has a rubber covering 34a. Roll 35 may be drivenfrom any convenient source. It will be noted that the tension for thechain warps may be controlled by the nip between squeeze rolls 34 and 35so that jumbo 27 is needed only to provide the desired tension betweenbeam and the roll 31. It is contemplated that under some circumstancesthe jumbo 27 may be dispensed with entirely. The dye bath housing 30 hasa troughshaped bottom 30a and the upper part of the housing may betransparent or dispensed with entirely if splashing or evaporation wouldnot otherwise occur. The dye liquor may be introduced to the trough 30athrough inlets 36 which are connected to feed conduit 37 throughmanifold 38. The discharge 39 from trough 30a is connected through agoose neck 40 to the make-up tank 41. The height of goose neck 40controls the dye liquor level and trough 30a, and circulating pump 42provides adequate flow of dye liquor. In actual practice the quantity ofdye liquor is relatively small so that it is entirely feasible to changethe color of the dye bath whenever it may be desirable to do so. Thisinvolves much less time and work than would be the case to change theentire chain warp beam 25.

After passing from squeeze rolls 34 and 35 the chain warps may be airdried or, if air drying is inadequate to set the particular type of dyebeing used, they are passed through a heater assembly 45 which issupplied with a suitable heating element; for example, infra-red lamps46, 46. A spacer pin assembly 47 and 48 may be added to both the inletand outlet of the heating chamber to insure that the warps aremaintained separate during the drying operation. The chain warpsarecontrolled in the loom by harnesses 9d and 9e in the customarymanner.

It will be thus understood that I have provide a simple, inexpenseattachment for looms which permits the color of the chain warps to'beblended with the color of the face warps being woven at any time. Thereis no necessity for changing the chain warp beam and it is also possibleto dye the stufier warps in the same manner should such be considereddesirable. Ordinarily, however, the stuifer warps do not present agrinning problem because they are not visible in the finished fabric.

Having thus described my invention, I claim:

1. In combination with a pile fabric loom having shed-forming means, achain warp beam for supplying chain warps to said shed-forming means,and means positioned in the loom between said chain warp beam and thechain harnesses for applying a dye to the chain warps.

2. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the dye applying meanscomprises a trough, means for submerging the chain warps in the trough,and means for circulating dye liquor through said trough.

3. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 in which the dye applying meanscomprises at least one roller in contact with the chain warps.

4. Apparatus in accordance with claim 1 having means for setting the dyeafter application.

5. The method of weaving a textile fabric which comprises feeding facewarp to and through the harnesses of a loom, unwinding chain warps froma chain warp beam, controlling said chain warps with harnesses in theloom, and applying a coloring material to said chain warps between thebeam and the harnesses.

References Cited in the file of this patent FOREIGN PATENTS 6,173 NorwaySept. 15, 1877

